Story 7 SPN A Kiss to Build a Dream On Pt 1
by Dragonladylewis
Summary: Demons take a new tactic and kidnap Bobby to try and catch Sam, Dean & Alex, but things take a turn when they receive help from two unlikely sources. Mature content, very graphic violence.


Supernatural Story 7

"A Kiss to Build a Dream On."

Alex spins around and catches a vampire across the chest with the blade of her stiletto; it slashed open a huge gash, blood pours out of it. It staggers back and snarls at her, it gives Alex time to launch herself at the monster. She drives both bloody blades deep into its shoulders, the impact of the two of them coming together knocks the monster backwards, and it lands on the floor on its back, Alex on top of it. Alex drives her full body weight into the knives and pins the vampire to the floor like a butterfly under glass. It kicks, wiggling and hissing in pain as the dead man's blood covered blades burn into its flesh. Alex snorts in derision and jumps up. She glares down at the beast then pulls another bloody blade out of the sheath strapped to her calf and steps on its forearm. She drives the blade of the knife into its arm and pins it to the floor and smiles an evil grin. The vampire kicks and howls in pain as more dead man's blood hits its veins. She laughs and steps over its twitching body and steps on its other arm and then pins it down to the floor with another knife. It twitches and screams, then grows still as the toxin sets in. The vampire growls and pants at her, glaring at her from its place on the floor.

"You're wasting your time Alexis." It snarls, "I'm dead either way and I'd rather die with my secrets than give you the satisfaction of knowing the truth."

Sam and Dean walk in from another room, both carrying machetes covered in blood. They look at Alex, then at the vampire pinned to the floor. Dean jerks his chin at it and glares down.

"Well, well, well, looky here Sammy. Looks like they weren't so tough after all, suckhead." Dean laughs at the creature.

"Suckhead? Really? Quoting Blade now?" Alex laughs, wiping her face with her arm; it smears the blood drops across her cheeks adding to her wild look. Dean shrugs and then looks at her, then jerks his head down at the vampire.

"So did you have a chance to ask it anything yet?" Alex shakes her head and glances down at it, then back up at the boys.

"Just make sure it doesn't go anywhere. I've got a score to settle."

Dean's eyes narrow and he looks back down at it, then kicks its foot, it snarls at him from the floor. Sam looks up and down at Alex, his eyes narrow as he takes in her body language and her countenance. She had changed so much in the last three weeks, he wasn't sure he would recognise her if he hadn't been with her the whole time. She was harder, driven, completely focused on hunting to the point he wasn't even sure if and when she slept any more. She didn't laugh as much, her eyes never smiled, he missed the old Alex. Dean walks over from the vampire closer to Alex, watching her. She was methodically cleaning the blood off of her knives on an old shirt she had picked up from the floor; he smiled at the irony when he noticed the hippy '60s peace sign on the front of it.

"So...you sure you want to do this?" he starts, watching her face. For a split second something flashes over her features, to be quickly replaced by that horrible dead mask she worn now, her eyes were cold, emotionless as she looks back at him.

"Don't you think I'm entitled?" she asks him quietly, a hit of sarcasm in her voice. She holds up her right arm and looks at the heavy elastic sleeve, then back at him.

"I think an arm for an arm will make me happy. Nawww," she says stepping around Dean and walking over to the creature, she kneels down and grabs it by the throat and twists. "No point in lying, I'll be happy when it's dead. Crying in pain." The vampire gasps a little trying to catch its breath through the death grip she's got on its throat.

The abandon old farmhouse was so far out in the middle of nowhere there was no way anyone could have ever heard the screams, but Sam still paced around the living room on high alert. He hated what Alex was doing, no, he hated that Alex seemed to enjoy herself so much, at doing what she was doing.

Dean appears at the top of the stairs and stops, he looks at Sam for a second, then walks outside into the sunshine and takes a deep breath. The air was clean, cool and fresh, he closes his eyes and takes another breath, trying to get the scent of blood out of his nostrils. If only he could clean out his head as easily. His brain spun in circles trying to figure out a way to justify what Alex was doing with their need for information. He couldn't. It was a stupid minor thing, a vampire who had got caught up in the whole vampire-sucking-demon-blood deal and had bit Alex on the arm. He was pissed at it, he wanted it to hurt for hurting her but it seemed like Alex was doing it for something else. She was torturing it with a single minded vengeance that scared him, and he never ever though he'd ever be scared of her. But then again, she wasn't exactly her anymore. Sam appears beside him and jerks him away from his thoughts, he glances over at him, then back out across the abandon apple orchard and the skeleton of a cow barn.

"Is it still alive?" Sam asks quietly. Dean glances over at him and nods faintly, then shakes his head.

"Unfortunately." He murmurs, "I never thought I live to see a day where I felt sorry for something like that."

Sam shifts on his feet and then looks across the trees; he smiles faintly thinking of something that might make him feel better, and then looks back at Dean.

"Oh I don't know. Remember Eleanor? The female vamp whose brood ate cows? You didn't look too happy when Gordon had her now did you?"

Dean shoots him a look, freezing him to the spot; Sam is at a loss as to what would have bothered him about that.

"Are you comparing Alex to Gordon?" Dean snarls. Sam stammers when he realises that his comment could have been taken like that, and that wasn't what he had in mind at all.

"No, god no, Dean! No not at all! I meant you felt sorry for Eleanor and she was a vamp too." Dean snorts and grabs a long piece of grass and twists it in his fingers into a small ring.

"Sam, stop. I know you didn't mean it like that. I'm just..." Dean's voice fades away as he searches for words to express how he was feeling at the moment, without sounding like a wuss. He sighs and then tosses the grass away and looks at Sam.

"If I didn't know her better, I'd think she was worse than Gordon right now." He spins on his heel and heads back into the house, Sam follows him in, lagging a little behind. He pauses at the top of the basement stairs and then takes a breath, the copper cloying scent of blood filling his nose again. Sam waits behind him and Dean turns to look up at Sam.

"I don't think you should see this Sammy." He says, hoping his brother would listen to him and stay upstairs, it's a futile hope when Sam sets his jaw and shakes his head at him, stubborn and determined to go down with him. Dean sighs, too emotionally drained to fight with him and starts down the stairs.

Alex takes the slim blade of the knife and carefully cuts two parallel lines in one of the few remaining bare patches of skin left, then carefully joins the two with another across the top. It looks like an upside down capital U.

"No, please don't." The vamp begs as she slowly eases the tip of the knife under the layers of skin and carefully cuts the layers free leaving a small tag of skin free.

"I told you everything, you bitch!" it snarls, wiggling away from her.

"I don't care what you told me." Alex snarls back, "I told you this is payback, for everybody."

The vamp gasps and holds its breath when Alex takes a grip on the small tag of skin and slowly pulls down, the layers of skin separating from the layers of membrane and muscles in a jagged bloody edge. She's only peeled off an inch when the vamp finally starts to scream, the pain of being skinned alive too much to bear.

Dean's boots thump on the steps but the screaming masks the sound, it's only when Alex stops to take a fresh grip on the bloody skin that she hears the two sets of boots. Dean can hear Sam behind him suck in his breath at the sight of the vampire, and he knows by the falter in his footsteps Sam had no idea it was this bad. Alex glances over at Dean, then does a double take when she sees Sam.

"You were supposed to stay upstairs." She growls at him, stomping over to stop in front of him. Sam glances down at a bloody Alex, and then back over to the vampire. He steps around her, staring at the body hanging up, and doesn't look away till Alex grabs his arm and yanks him around to face her.

"It's bad enough Dean thinks he has to be here, but you don't need to be. Go back upstairs." She growls at him. Sam stares at her, then leans in close mad as hell.

"What the hell are you doing Alex! What the hell is that about?" he yells at her, pointing to the mangled body. "How could you let her do that?" he yells turning on Dean.

Dean glances at Sam then back to Alex and shrugs at him at a loss for an explanation. Sam glares at the both of them and spins away; he slowly approaches the vampire, suspended in a pool of blood and looks at it. The contents of his stomach rise up into his throat and he swallows trying to control it. It's a lost cause and he leans over and pukes onto the floor over Alex's bloody footprints. He can hear Dean's boots scrap on the floor behind him but he knows Dean won't come near him for a while, he knew Sam was that pissed at them both. He hears a faint whistling sound and looks up to see the thing laughing at him. The long strips of skin and muscle dangling off of it wiggle as it laughs, like octopus tentacles and Sam fights back the urge to gag again at the sight of it. She's peeled it like a banana. The things lips twist and it smiles a hideous toothless grin at him, then spits out a gob of blood into the mass of puke and blood, its teeth swim like pearls in a bloody soup.

"I must look lovely." It whistles, it glances down at what was left of its right forearm and smirks at the white bone hanging out, then looks back up at Sam.

"I guess an arm for an arm was only the opening act. Unfortunately she missed all the major arteries and vessels. I guess being such a good killer means a having a fairly accurate knowledge of human anatomy."

"You're going to be alive for days." She sneers from behind Sam. "Long enough to smell your own flesh rotting."

It snorts and then looks at Sam and shrugs as much as it can for being strung up, smiling at the irony of it all.

"I told you everything." It says slowly, "The vampires wanted an alliance with the demons, and then the bitch got greedy and decided to turn us into something else. She ruined it all, now we've got hunters and demons hunting us, just as much as they are hunting you."

Sam frowns and glances back at Dean, checking to see if he's caught that statement. Dean frowns and looks at the vampire, then at Sam, he steps up to Sam and looks at the vamp.

"Why are the demons hunting us? Payback? They should know their wasting their time, we can't be tracked, hex bags." Dean says smiling.

The vampire laughs at this, hysterically, finally gasping for breath at the pain of it all.

"Oh they got smart. They've been following you all over the country. Bobby's Salvage Yard, Canonsberg, New York, Cape Cod, they were at the hospital watching Alex in her coma. They are everywhere and there's no where you can hide. They are waiting, watching, till the big boss demon bitch gives them the word. You guys are on the Demon's Most Wanted list, every demon in the country has your pictures, Bobby's pictures, the car, and everything is staked out."

Dean goes slightly pale and looks at Sam. The look on Sam's face says everything, he believes the vamp is telling the truth and the implication is terrifying. Sam narrows his eyes and looks at the vampire; he sets his jaw and takes a breath.

"You're lying. They would never cooperate enough to do that and if they are hunting you like they are hunting us there is no way for you to know that."

The vamp shakes his head at Sam, the skin jiggles, it whistles again and Sam realises there is a stiletto handle wedged in its ribs, with every breath the air escapes from its punctured lung, making the whistle. He cringes inside imagining how much that must hurt.

"Sam," it whispers, "The demon blood we sucked back didn't do much for us. We needed much, much more to reap any benefits from it. Kind of like what you were doing, gallons and gallons of demon blood."

"Shut up!"

Dean roars at it, he jumps forward and grabs a knife off of the table Alex has set up and shoves it up against its throat. It jerks its head up, away from the blade and glares at Dean, then looks back at Sam and faintly smiles.

"There was one benefit though." It smiles.

Sam waits, then watches in horror as its eyes flip to black, no pupils, completely black. Dean jerks the knife away from its neck and watches as it looks at Sam and then him.

"We are dialled into their little demon network, tuning into the demon channel, picking up on everything they say. Why they are hunting you, we don't know. They got smart and started using cell phones and the internet to communicate, so it was comms blackout sorta speak, right Alex? Gotta use the correct terminology with these ex- army folks or they get all pissy." It laughs and looks at the two boys.

"How do you know I'm ex -army?" Alex growls from behind Dean, her voice wavering slightly. It glares at her and then spits again, a glob of foamy blood specked spit lands in the putrid puddle at its feet.

"Because during those long moments of draining you, we share. I know all your thoughts, feelings, your past, everything that is you, Alexis. What a beautiful name, it rolls off the tongue like wine, Alexis Elizabeth Colville. Has he said it yet, like in your dreams? The way you wish he would say it?" It taunts as it stares at her.

Alex sucks in her breath and stares at it. It smirks at her, its eyes narrow, and it whistles for breath.

"Has he whispered your name in your ear as he makes love to you? No? 'Cause nobody wants you, right Alex? It's always Expendable Alex. Nobody loves a killer like you."

It stops suddenly and chokes and gasps, it jerks as Dean suddenly grips the knife in its ribs and twists it. It chokes and splutters as the bloody foam gushes out of its mouth. Before any of them can react Dean grabs one of Alex's Kukri off the table and buries it in the wall. He cuts through its neck so fast the foam runs out of its open mouth and across the knife and drips off the edge.

Sam stares in horror at it then spins around and looks at Alex. Alex stares at the bloody corpse; she blinks and stares at it, not moving for a second, she suddenly snaps out of it.

"You killed it!" she rounds on Dean, "That was my kill! I wasn't finished!"

Dean spins on her and stomps over, toe to toe again, his face a dark menacing sight, he glares at her, pissed as hell.

"You were freakin' finished an hour ago! I don't know what kind of freaky-deaky thrill you were getting but that was completely outta line! I've been trying to figure you out for weeks now, so whatever the hell is up with you had better get sorted out cause this isn't going to happen again!"

Sam grabs her arm and pulls her away from him, breaking up the argument and looks at Dean.

"Stop! We don't have time to do this right now! We've got bigger problems."

Dean spins away and yanks the Kukri out of the wall. He grabs the t-shirt off the floor and wipes it off. He tosses the t-shirt on the floor then tosses the Kukri on top and then starts grabbing the other knives, adding it to the pile. He glares at Alex then looks at Sam and starts barking orders.

"We've got to get the hell outta here. Call Bobby Sam. Tell him everything that suckhead said and tell him to get the panic room ready."

Sam grabs his cell phone and starts dialing. Alex stands there looking at the vampire head on the floor.

"Alex!" Dean yells, she glares at him, her jaw muscle works under the skin. He shoves the bundle of t-shirt wrapped knives into her arms and then grabs several guns and a jug of dead man's blood and jerks his head at the stairs.

"Go, throw those in the trunk, and get back here to get our stuff."

"What's the rush?" Sam asks following them up the stairs, the cell phone pressed to his ear. Dean jogs outside and glances around the orchard and heads to the car.

"We've gotta hope the demon network was shut off both ways. Otherwise they just heard suckhead spill his guts."

Sam curses, then hangs up the cell and dials again, then presses the phone to his ear and looks around.

"So, what's that got to do with anything?" Sam asks, looking around the area. Alex dumps the bundle into the truck and slams it shut.

"Because when you lose the advantage of surprise the only thing you can do is attack." She says. The implication hits Sam and he swears again, his attention suddenly on the phone.

"Bobby! There's an Emergency! Get ready for a demon attack; get everything to the panic room. Now! Bobby? Bobby?" he yells into the phone.

A stricken looks passes over his face and he looks at the cell in his hand, then at Dean and Alex.

"I lost him, it cut out."

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Dean swears, smacking the truck, he spins around and they all run back to the house to grab their things.

The drive was long, made worse by the fact that no one could get in contact with Bobby. Bobby who had a half a dozen phones and was never far from any of them, was not picking up a single one. Alex hoped that he had gotten the message and managed to get to the room in time, she knew he had it ready but whether he would stop to grab his precious books was another story. The gas tank on the truck was running dangerously low when she spotted a gas station in the distance. She knew Paula sucked gas as fast as her truck did so she figured Dean wouldn't have too much of a fit when she pulled over.

So far the drive was uneventful, no traffic accidents, no breakdowns, and no delays, Manley, the sign had said just a few miles back. A typical small town just outside the border of Minnesota and South Dakota, just a few miles away from Bobby's place, if his place was still there.

Alex pulls in, the Impala following behind, and pulls up to the pumps. She switches off the truck and jumps out ready for the grumbling and bitching from Dean, he had been so damned hard to get along with and she knew it was her fault. She was stupid and weak, and she knew better than anybody that you couldn't mix work and sex without the consequences. Hopefully the consequences wouldn't mean the team broke up, she'd be hard, professional and driven. She'd completely focus on hunting and back the hell away from Dean Winchester. She just didn't want to be alone on the road any more. Being lonely was still worse than putting up with a cranky Dean. He has pulled the Impala up beside her truck on the opposite side of the pump and grabs the other nozzle. He shoves it into the gas tank and looks around. It was awfully quiet, hardly any traffic, her spidey senses were starting to tingle and she glances around, nervous and on edge. Sam had gone right into the store and came out with a large bag stuffed full of snacks and a tray of coffee, the cell phone in his ear again. Sam flips the phone shut and grimaces, then shoves it into his pocket and glances around, and hands Alex a large coffee.

"Ahh, the elixir of life." she sighs, taking a large drink. "You noticed too huh?" she says looking around.

"Ya, I don't like it, something's up." he says glancing around again. "I think we should skee-daddle outta here. Now."

Sam tells her jumping in the driver's seat of the Impala. Alex twists the top on the gas tank and walks in behind the truck checking the tonneau cover and tailgate. The back roads were pretty neglected and sometime the harder bumps screwed up the hydraulics on the tonneau cover and popped it open. Dean yanks the nozzle out of the tanks and hangs it up, then jerks his chin at Alex,

"Want me to pay for yours too?" Alex stops, surprised at him for a second, he had barely been civil to her the last couple of days, with snotty sarcastic comments or even worse the silent treatment. She reaches in her pocket and pulls out the fifty she has stashed there.

"Naw, actually I was gonna pay for yours too. You got it the last time."

Dean smiles at her and slips the fifty from between her fingers and then stomps into the store, he emerges a few seconds later glancing around the parking lot. He walks over to her and shoves his hands in his pockets.

"You've been driving alone for a while. Want some company?"

Alex hesitates, surprised at him, she thought he'd still be pissed off at her for what she did with the vampire but his body language was just tired, sad, and tense. She smiles faintly, and then nods at him; he yanks the passenger door of the Impala open and grabs some snacks from the bag.

"I'm gonna ride with Alex for a bit." He grumbles to Sam. Sam smiles then glances at Alex who is making her way back into the truck.

"Good, see if you can find out what the whole 'Expendable Alex' thing was."

Dean shoots him a look that says 'Ya right!' then slams the creaky door shut and pats the car.

Alex pops the passenger door open and reaches in behind the seat and pulls the shotgun out and tucks it down on the floor out of sight, then grabs the bag of salt rounds and tosses them down beside the gun, rotating her shoulders a little to ease up the stiffness.

.

"Just in case." she says, flashing Dean a quick smile. "There aren't even any birds singing." she says climbing in the truck.

"Ya, I think we all caught that, creepy." He mutters glancing around again; he stashes his snacks on the floor of the truck, checks his Colt 1911 and settles into the seat. Alex starts the truck and flips on the radio and hits a few buttons. The Beatles "Hey Jude" pours out of the speakers, Dean glances over at her a pained look on his face and he reaches out to change the song. Alex holds out her hand to stop him, she glares at him.

"Whoa, whoa there sweetie. How does that go? 'Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts the hell up.'"

"Its shuts his cakehole. Shotgun shuts his cakehole. Seriously The Beatles? Is it a whole tape?"

Alex glares at him for a second, then shoves the truck into gear and pulls out onto the road.

"No, it's my MP3 player on shuffle. And as I recall you made me listen to Metallica for six hours straight in Arizona, because 'driver picks the music'."

"There's nothing wrong with Metallica." He grumbles from the seat. "Besides the tape was stuck."

They had just made it out of the town limits and onto the old secondary highway when the quiet trip turned. Alex squinted down the road and slowly brought the truck to a stop, Dean looking at the crowd on the road ahead.

"Crap!" Alex swears, looking over at Dean, who grabbing his cell phone. She quickly rolls down her window and grabs the shotgun off the floor. She shoves two rounds in it and tossing some loose rounds on the seat. She reaches behind the seat and grabs a set of binoculars and looks through.

"Sam!" he bellows into the phone, "We've got a road block up ahead. Sit tight for a second."

"Those are demons, and it looks like what 10...15? Shit! Shit! Shit!" she swears.

She pulls out her pistol and checks the clip, then pops open a secret compartment in the center console and unclips several knives from their holders. Dean grabs the binoculars and scans the crowd for himself and grumbles into the phone.

"Great, why couldn't it be one or two, 10 seems a little overkill. Demons Sam, a dozen or so."

"It's the Great Dean Winchester; they figure you're VIP enough for your own groupies." Alex laughs.

"Demon groupies? Geeze thanks!" he smiles at her, she made jokes when she was feeling stressed, just like he did. "Let's not stop to sign any autographs."

"I say plough right through them and hope like hell there's a road on the other side and

no barricade. That could be bad!" Alex says.

She looks at Dean waiting for his opinion; he makes a face and then blows a long breath out through his pursed lips. She was right, last time they played it safe they managed to drag Dean and Sam out of the Impala and only Alex's quick action saved Dean.

"Sounds like a plan. We're crashing it Sam. Stay close." Dean says, he flips the cell phone shut and shoves it in his pocket, then flips his Colt to his left hand and grabs the handle above the door.

"Let's go then!" Alex says, smiling and wiggling her eyebrows at Dean. She cranks the volume on the music, Motley Crue's version of "Helter Skelter" blasts out, before she steps on the gas. The truck engine roars, its tires squeal as they get a grip on the pavement and lurches ahead. It picks up speed as it flies down the gentle incline, Alex rubs the dash with her hand for a second, talking to the truck.

"Come on baby, we gotta get through this."

The RPM's are almost redlining and the turbo kicks in, jerking the truck forward seconds before the truck hits the first demon. The impact flings it up over the truck to land in a bloody crunch on the pavement behind it. Sam swings the Impala around the demon, the Chevy's ass swings to the side, sweeping more demons out of the way. Alex swears and pulls the wheel around, getting the truck over to clip a bumper on a jeep partially parked across the road, the jeep bounces out of the way, the heavier truck no match for it. The Impala threads its way through the space without a bump and launches itself at the demons. Demons scatter and fly through the air as both vehicles smash their way through the barricade. Alex swears again and swings the truck around the other way to avoid a concrete barrier on the other side. She wrestles the truck back on track and tears down the road through the crowd. Dean glances behind them and smiles at Sam's driving, then stops when a loud bang is heard on the roof,

"Shit, I think we've got one on the roll bar!" Alex yells over at him, "How close are the demons?" she asks, trying to judge from the rear view mirrors.

"About a quarter mile, they're not following us." Dean says glancing behind them, then up on the roof of the truck when another loud thump hits the roof. His cell phone rings and he yanks it out of his pocket.

"Sam!" he yells into the phone. He pulls out his pistol and looks up at the roof of the truck.

"Don't you dare shoot my truck!" Alex yells catching the motion out of the corner of her eye.

"Well we gotta get it off! Just one?" he yells at Alex and into the phone at the same time.

"Tell Sam to go left! Pull around me, go left! Keep going! Don't stop!" Alex yells.

She sees Sam in her mirror manoeuvre the Impala over, veering into the other lane to the left. Both cars race down the road, neck and neck. The music switches to the Beatles again and Dean groans, then smiles at the irony of it all

"Shake it up baby now, shake it up baby! Twist and shout! Twist and Shout!" he yells with the music. Alex laughs and glances over at him for a second, then watches the Impala pull ahead to a safe distance. No reason to put a demon through the back window.

"Hold on, whiplash coming!" Alex yells, she glances over to Dean and makes sure he's braced himself.

She slams on the brakes with both feet and yanks back on the park break. The truck screams to a halt, tires squeals, and the ass end swings wildly; the tires kick up a black cloud of melted rubber and brake pads. The demon flies forward and lands heavy on the ground, bones snap and crunch when it hits the pavement. The Impala flies down the road safely out of the way. Alex immediately releases the brakes and stomps on the gas, the tires squeal, the truck rolls over the demon's body and tears down the road, it quickly catches up with the Impala and both vehicles fly down the old road. Dean grabs his phone again and dials.

"That was friggin' ridiculous! You okay Sam?" Dean says into the cell phone. He looks back to see black smoke pouring out of the body and joining a dozen other black clouds spiralling up into the sky.

"Sorry we couldn't stop to exorcise them all." Alex glances in the mirror and watches the smoke clouds, then glances over to Dean.

"There was no way that was going to happen." he says, "Sam pull over the next best place you see, we need to make sure we're not dragging any body parts around. Don't need to get pulled over."

He smiles and then hangs up the phone and tucks it inside his pocket. He then grabs the shotgun and starts unloading it. He stows it behind the driver's seat, he then flips his .45 on safe and tucks it inside his jacket. Alex hands him her .45 and he puts it on safe, and then hands it back to her.

"That was some awesome driving back there." he says, smiling.

"Hope I've got enough tire left to get to Bobby's. Do you get all tingly when I drive like a nutbar?" she laughs.

"Oh, yes, something about a woman muscling around a big old truck. Sexy." he teases her.

Alex laughs and shakes her head, then glances over at him. Her face falls for a second, then she looks back at the road ahead, a moment of awkward silence falls and she reaches over to flip the song on the MP3 player. An old Grateful Dead song starts a tinny, twangy, live version of "Ship of Fools" buzzes through the speakers and she reaches out and turns down the volume.

Dean nods his head and watched the scenery pass by, thinking about the poor people trapped in the bodies the demons had possessed. He knew that there was no other way for them to get through but it didn't make him feel any better. Everything made him feel like crap lately.

Alex follows Sam past the state line, then slows down and follows him into a dirt driveway into an abandon farmhouse to inspect the vehicles. The truck looks terrible. A massive dent in the right front quarter panel, and another one in the rear, a headlight was busted out on the driver's side and the tonneau cover had a dent in the top. Even her heavy duty chrome roll bar had a dent and was completely missing a light. Bits of flesh, hair and blood clung to the grill and the bumpers and there was a chunk of material hanging off the front axle. Dean was very happy there were no body parts stuck in the material, when he pried it out.

"Awwww, baby. I am so sorry." Alex said to the truck, rubbing the dents with her hands,

Dean looks over from the Impala, shakes her head at her, then laughs.

"I think you're the only girl I've ever hear talking to her truck."

"Well, I love my truck and it loves me, so ya, I talk to it. Sometimes it's the best conversation I have. How's Paula?"

"Great. One small dent in the ass end, that's it. Well, besides the chunky bits and blood."

There were several old barrels lying around back of the place that had caught rainwater and pretty soon most of the gore was cleaned off the vehicles. The dents and headlight was going to have to wait till they got to Bobby's place. Dean satisfied that Sam could manage the Impala the last few miles to Bobby's house climbed back into the truck with Alex. He sits frowning, deep in thought and doesn't say much for a mile or so down the road. He finally reaches out and turns down the music and gets a glare from Alex. She hesitates when she sees the look on his face.

"It doesn't make any sense, why have a road block there? If they were trying to catch us it would be better to ambush us in town? And how did they track us, the truck's full of hex bags."

"Bobby," Alex breathes, faintly. She glances over to Dean and then back onto the road "I always give him a rough idea of which way I'm coming so if I don't show up he knows where to start looking."

Dean's eyebrows pop up a little and he looks at her, Alex glances over and then frowns at the look on his face.

"What? What's the look for?" she asks. "You always have Sam with you. If something happens to me at least Bobby can get the truck. I'd hate to see someone else get it and all my stuff."

Dean watches her for a long minute, then he looks away and watches the scenery go by the window.

"You don't really think the only think Bobby would come for is the truck, do you?" he finally asks.

Alex is silent and he looks over at her, trying to read her face. She looks out over the road and watches the taillights on Paula, she doesn't say anything. He knows she's trying to keep a grip on her emotions; her jaw is working a little. It's was now or never.

"You're not expendable." he says quietly.

"We're all expendable Dean. All us hunters are." she says, glancing over at him.

He smirks to himself when he recognises her tactics; she would try to keep it from being personal by trying to change what the vamp said into generalities. It wasn't gonna work, he knew all the tricks. The next question was gonna put her into a corner and she'd have to tell him something. She would have to talk to him, finally.

"He said something else..." he starts.

"Dean, don't." She says quietly.

The emotion in her voice made it clear she knew exactly where he was going. He wanted her to tell him, one way or another, who did she want to say her name? If it wasn't him who was it, the ex-husband? Why the hell did that thought bother him so much? Did he really want to know? No, he didn't.

"Is that really your middle name? Elizabeth?"

Alex clears her throat and glances at him, then looks back out to the road.

"Yes." She answers. He smiles; the tone of her voice tells him she's wary, waiting for him to drop the bomb. She reminds him of a deer, wary, picking her way through a field, not sure if she should run or stay, right on the edge of panic.

"Alexis." He breathes, "Alexis Elizabeth Colville."

Her reaction is exactly what he was waiting for. It was barely perceptible, but with her it would be, she'd be desperately trying to protect herself. It was the slightest intake of breath and more blinking. It was him, she wanted him to say it. It all made perfect sense now. She wasn't mad at him because they had sex, she was mad because she wanted more than just sex, she wanted him to make love to her. She had kissed him twice, okay once was when they were dreamwalking, but the other time she had kissed him was in her room at Bobby's house. He was such a bonehead he never realised she was trying to show him she liked him all along, Sam was right. He rests his head back against the head rest and stares at the roof of the truck. Part of him wanted to laugh out loud and kiss her; the other parts of him were terrified, panicking. He was the deer standing on the edge of the field, waiting to run. She shifts in the seat next to him and he realises she was trying to read him. He closes his eyes and smiles for a second.

"It's beautiful. He was right about that at least."

Alex shifts again in her seat, completely thrown off guard at the turn of conversation. She was certain he was going to ask her who 'he' was. She was glad he had dropped it.

"Thanks."

The music switches and one of her favourite songs drifts out of the speakers, "Gold Dust Woman". They sit in silence listen to it, Dean's eyes were still closed and she though he had finally fallen asleep. He had hardly slept at all the past few days and she was glad he had enough faith in her driving to relax and go to sleep. His voice makes her jump a little when he starts talking, mumbling actually, he was falling asleep.

"This song reminds me of you."

Alex does a double take and frowns for a second.

"What's the frown for?" he asks.

Alex glances over again and sees him watching her closely. She turns back to the twisty road ahead and frowns again, trying to figure out what he was up to, she couldn't.

"It's supposed to be about a woman using cocaine. Gold Dust is the cocaine. How the hell does that remind you of me?"

He wiggles in the seat and crosses his arms over his chest and closes his eyes again, then takes a breath. He could bullshit and agree with her or come clean and maybe make her mad again. He'd rather have the old mad, pissed off, Alex than the horrible dead shell he'd been living with the last few weeks.

"Really, cocaine? I think it's about someone who is bitter at the path they've taken. Who's sad and lost. Lonely. Like you are, like us."

It felt like he'd punched her in the stomach and knocked the breath out of her for a second. The emotions roll over her and she catches herself taking a huge gulp of air. The Impala's taillights go blurry in the distance, this time when she blinks it forces the tears out instead of in, and they go dancing down her cheeks in little sparkling trails.

He hit the nerve, naw; he'd jumped on it with both feet. He felt like a shit for making her cry but it was the only real way to make her stop. Trying not to feel anything didn't work, it just turned you, turned you into something like Gordon. He had come so close himself, to tipping over that edge; he couldn't let her go that way. He braced himself for the onslaught, he wasn't disappointed.

Alex yanks the truck off the road onto the shoulder and kills the engine and then jumps out. He watches her for a second, pacing around the back of the truck, then jumps when her boot makes a good solid impact with the rocker panel. She's swearing and kicking repeatedly when he climbs out and makes his way around the other side of the truck. This was the scary part; she could kick his ass so easy, without even trying hard but he was hoping she'd stop before she hurt him too bad. She sees him out of the corner of her eye and spins to face him, then stomps over to meet him head on, still wiping her eyes. He was ready for a good solid fist to the jaw but when she shoves him backwards with both hands, it throws him off for a second.

"You...selfish bastard! You mean, selfish, bastard! Don't you ever give a shit about anybody else's feelings? Or is it that you just don't have any and you don't get it?"

That hurt, that hurt more than she knew it did, but he could take it if she'd just be Alex again. He set his jaw and waited, waited to see if she'd clam up again or if she'd keep going, he was hoping like hell she'd keep going, he didn't know if he could keep bating her.

"I feel just fine. It's about time you did."

He grumbles at her. He was tempted to shove his hands in the pockets of his jacket but then decided he'd better leave them ready, just in case she wasn't finished shoving him, or worse.

"What the hell? How dare you!" she yells, she shoves him back again. "You don't know what I feel. You don't know what it's like...going through day after day...nobody cares if you're alive, nobody cares enough to come for you. You dedicate you're life to protecting everybody else and when you need them nobody's there!"

The pieces start dropping into place, one by one into the puzzle that was Alex, fitting neatly into the puzzle in his head, expendable Alex. She shoves him again and he staggers backwards, another batch of tears goes streaming down her face, she shoves him again, then punches him in the shoulder with her fist.

"Everything...everything... I love dies or leaves me? Why? What did I do? Why can't I be good enough?"

He catches his breath at the depths of anguish pouring out of her and grabs her hand when she goes for another punch and holds it tight against his chest. She whacks him with her other hand and winces when the impact vibrates through her injured muscles and nerves, he grabs that hand and holds it to keep her from hurting herself again, then pulls her in close to his chest. She buries her face in his shoulder and sobs, great heart wrenching sobs shake through her, guilt tears him apart. He had no idea she was hurting so much, for so long.

"Its not you. It's not your fault. You didn't do anything." He stammers, desperately searching for something to say to make it better. He sucked at this, he never knew what to say, and things always came out wrong, or sounded so stupid. He just wanted to make her feel better, to take the hurt away, this god damned job, it ruined everything.

"I never left you. I'll always be here for you." Alex sobs harder and shakes her head.

"You're going to die out here on this horrible road one day and leave me too. Just like my team, just like John, maybe even Bobby. Why can't it end?"

Dean shakes his head, lost, without an answer and holds her tighter to his chest. He knew it would never end; there would always be another ghost, another demon, another something they would have to kill. It was so god damned depressing. Being with Sam made it better, moments of laughter, moments of fun, moments of being normal, doing laundry, burning supper, watching TV. He would go insane if he had to do it alone.

She shivers a little and he realises that she's not crying as hard as she was in the beginning. As long as she wasn't shutting him out again. He rests his cheek against the top of her head and closes his eyes for second, moments, like this one, holding her close, her body pressed up against his, her hair soft against the stubble on his cheek, her shampoo smell in his nose. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to take her away and go hid in a cabin by a lake, and he wanted to tell her all the secrets he'd been keeping from her. Why couldn't it all be as simple as that? Because he knew; as soon as he told her about Hell and what he did there she'd leave him, because every time she'd look at him after that, all she would see was the men who hurt her, not him.

The Impala engine roars up behind them in the distance and Alex shifts, the moment is over just as fast as it came. He waits as long as he can before he lifts up his head and drops a quick kiss on the warm spot where his cheek had been, then looks down at her. She sniffs and then wipes her cheeks off with her hands and completely avoids looking at him. The Impala drives past them, then Sam spins it around in a U-turn and pulls in behind the truck. Dean catches a glimpse of his face for a second, before he looks back down at Alex.

"Are you good enough to keep going?" She nods, at him and swallows hard, and then looks down at the ground for a second, then back up at him.

"Do you...want to drive? You haven't slept much." She asks him, her voice a little hoarse and crackly. He smiles at her, and then nods at her, he glances over to Sam who is hesitantly approaching.

"Na, I like watching you muscle it around."

"Are we okay?" Sam asks, he looks from Dean to Alex and then back to Dean again, not sure if he should be intruding at this particular moment. Alex nods her head at him but doesn't say anything, Dean glances at her, then jumps in with an explanation.

"We're good, just a little worried about Bobby." He lies. Sam looks hard at him, immediately aware of the fact that Dean is lying, and even more important, obviously protecting Alex. Sam smiles and nods his head, whatever happened had obviously brought the two of them together again, the tear tracks were still fresh on Alex's face so hopefully it had been a catharsis. He really missed the old Alex.

"So, should we hit the road? Only a few miles left. Should we gear up now or wait till we hit the other spot we picked?"

"Naw Sam, wait. I'd hate to get pulled over, but tuck some stuff under the seat just in case. They're probably watching the roads, better be ready for another road block. Stay behind us. Same thing, if we can crash it, we'll try."

Sam nods and jogs back to the Impala, the engine roars to life, rumbling with anticipation. Dean smiles at the sound of the engine, then jumps into the truck and glances over to Alex. She manages a faint smile at him, then flips the radio on, Janice Joplin "Another Piece of my Heart" blast out as she turns the key. He makes a face, then looks at her and smiles as he settles down into the seat to sleep.

"I can live with Janice."

He slept like a rock, didn't even move apparently from the major kink in his neck, what woke him up was the Truck RPM's dropping and the gasp from Alex.

"Oh my god." She moaned softly.

The tone of her voice scared him more than her words did and he bolted awake, looking around for the demons, or the road barricade. What he didn't expect was the Sheriff's cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and the black hole blasted through the roof of Bobby's house. The place looks like a warzone, the heavy steel corrugated fence was twisted and black, cars that had been in neat piles were scattered around the surrounding fields, the purple Volkswagen beetle with yellow polka dots they had laughed about was sitting in the ditch across the road from Bobby's house, it had been at the back of the junkyard. Alex floors the gas and roars up the road, Dean grabs the dash and looks at her in a panic, apparently she had not noticed the many law enforcement folks hanging around, not a good thing as far as he was concerned.

"Alex! We can't just barge in, there are a dozen cops around!" he yells at her. She ignores him completely and slams on the brakes and yanks on the park brake, then flies out of the door without even shutting the truck off. He swears and then shuts the truck off, waiting to see what would happen. He groans when Sherriff Jody Mills intercepts Alex in a half-tackle and yanks her around to look at her.

"He's not there!" Sheriff Mills yells at her, she grabs Alex by the cheeks and firmly pulls her around to look at her, talking to her like she's a child.

"Alex! He's not there. We searched the whole house, he's not there." Alex nods, tears filling her eyes again for the second time in one day and she pushes her hands away, still nodding and gets a grip on herself.

"Who's in the body bags?" Alex asks, nodding to the ambulance who was loading a second stretcher into the back. The sheriff turns and glances behind her, at the Impala and Alex's truck, then back at Alex.

"We don't know. Never seen them before. Got some hellish damage done though. Are you with the boys?"

Alex glances behind her and sees the two boys slowly making their way down towards the two women, she nods to the Sheriff. When the boys get close enough she jerks her chin at the both of them and smiles sarcastically.

"Nice to see you again, I think. You guys better come with me, there is something you need to see."

The smell is unlike anything they've ever smelled before, it reminds Alex of a hot gun barrel, and when they get downstairs she realises why. The heavy steel door to the panic room was a charred, twisted wreck, dangling off of one hinge, half opened. Dean reaches out to open it and immediately jerks back, the skin on his hand sizzling with the residual heat still trapped in the metal. Sheriff Mills reaches down and grabs a rag off the floor and pulls the door back far enough for them to see into the panic room. The furniture was tossed around like Lego pieces, a charred blackened stain stretched across the floor where the Devil's trap had been, the metal ceiling vent was dangling by a few screws.

"Jesus." Sam breathes, looking at the mass of twisted blacken steel that had been the walls.

"You guys can look around but do not, and I repeat do not move anything. I need every clue I can get and I don't need you three screwing this up on me." Sheriff Mills growls at them.

She spins on her heel and starts back up the stairs, the pauses a second and takes a few steps backwards and peeks at them through the stair treads.

"I want to find him as much as you do guys. He's a good man. Be careful upstairs, I think some floor joints were damaged; things might be a little unstable. I don't want a call later telling me to pick you up cause you fell through the floor."

She takes a few steps, then stops and leans over the handrail.

"Oh second though, don't stay here tonight, whatever the hell took him might come back. I can't afford to lose you too."

She disappears up the stairs, her boots thump on the floor for a second, then her voice rings out in the distance shouting orders to the others on site. Dean looks around the room, then walks over and picks up one of Bobby's books and a pile of notes. He sifts through them then stops and pulls a piece of paper out.

"Did he leave us anything?" Sam asks. Dena grunts and reads it then hands him the paper.

"Looks like he was mapping demon activity. He's got our road block marked, the one from Thanksgiving when they tried to grab me, lots of storms, I don't know what the stars are, attacks?."

Sam looks it over, then adjusts the paper in his hand so Alex can see it and points.

"Unless we can figure this out, we're never going to find him. Anybody got a crystal ball? Maybe we can call down angel to point us in the right direction."

"How about a goddess?" A husky female voice says.

Dean spins towards the voice, his hand already pulling out his pistol. Sam whirls around and steps back to give Dean a better line of fire. Alex looks at boys and then back at the beautiful woman who strides into the room. Kali looks around the room and curls her nose up at the smell, then glances over to the boys.

"Well? Do you want my help or not?" she purrs.

"No!" Dean growls, shoving the gun back in his pocket. "What the hell are you doing here? Did you have something to do with this?"

Sam glances at Dean, then steps forward one step and swallows.

"Ahhh, yes, but why would you help us?" he asks.

"Because Bobby has something that belongs to me and I want it back."

She says her eyes narrow and she looks at Alex, then smiles at her. She takes a step forward and extends her hand to Alex and smiles.

"How rude of me, we haven't been introduced. I am Mahadevi , Uma, Gauri, Parvati, Jaganmata, Durga, Chandi, Kali, and Bhairavi. I am Mother and the Great Destroyer. I am many. "

Alex stares stunned at her for a second, then swallows hard and takes her hand, hesitantly.

"Kali? The Hindu Goddess Kali?"

Kali's eyebrows rise for a second and she smiles in satisfaction at being recognised, she releases Alex's hand and nods her head.

"Yes, that is the most...common name...I am know by. I am impressed."

"I can relate to you, if that's possible. Or proper." Alex stammers obviously nervous. Kali smiles again and glances at Dean and Sam in the corner, then looks back at Alex.

"I am pleased." Kali smiles.

"Good." Alex breathes, "Because the thought of pissing you off is pretty scary. Am I suppose to bow or kneel or anything?"

Kali throws back her head and laughs at her, the sound is musical and contagious and Alex finds herself smiling with her. Sam and Dean glance at each other, they are not amused, and shift in the corner.

"No," Kali laughs, "I would prefer if you spoke to me like a child would speak to its mother. Without fear. But with respect."

She glances over at the boys with her last comment and raises her eyebrows at them, then strolls over to the two of them. They glance at each other, then straighten up and step back.

"You two saved me and I didn't forget it. As distasteful is it is to admit."

Dean snorts a little to himself and then stops when she glares at him. She walks between the two boys and glances back at Alex.

"Bobby had just received a package, a medallion that belongs to me. It is special and I want it back. But...I can't get into the place they are keeping him. The demons are smart, they've masked it and protected it with wards. If I help you, do you promise to bring me the medallion?"

Dean and Sam look at each other, then at Alex, she nods faintly and then watches Kali pace around the room. There was something else, something she wasn't telling them.

"You're not telling us everything. There is something else." Alex says. Kali swings around, flames flare in her eyes for a second; Alex takes several hasty steps back as the goddess advances on her.

"You presume too much!" she snaps at her. Alex bumps against the table and stops short, but she sets her jaw and stares down the goddess.

"A mother doesn't punish a child when it asks 'why'. Why is the medallion so valuable?"

Kali looks at Alex, the flames dying down, and her lips twitch into a grin, then a huge smile. She laughs again and shakes her head at Alex, and then nods, her eyes laugh.

"You...my dear are a treasure. The medallion was a gift from my consort, Shiva."

"It connects you." Alex finishes. Kali looks at Alex for a moment; a touch of sadness is reflected on both of their faces. Kali nods faintly.

"Without it I can't find him." She says softly.

"Then we'll do it." Alex says shortly, she glances over at the two boys who shift uncomfortably on their feet. Kali nods and smiles then walks out of the room.

"They have him in a warehouse outside of town. I will be back when I have news. You should prepare yourselves."

Before anybody can say anything she disappears, Dean stomps over to Alex, his face a mask of anger.

"Do you have any idea what you've just got us into? She's a conniving, evil, two- faced...She's gonna get us killed!"

Sam pinches his lips together and joins them, he reluctantly nods to Alex and glances at Dean.

"This time I have to agree. The last time we met she tried to turn us over to Lucifer and his demons as a peace offering, to stop the apocalypse."

Alex's eyebrows pop up and she glances between the two of them, then purses her lips together and thinks.

"As long as she can show us where Bobby is then we're still ahead. We don't have to take her with us when we go in. And...we have the advantage right now, obviously she's limited or something, otherwise she would have gone in there and torched them all herself. There is something else going on, we just have to keep out eyes out for it."

Dean shakes his head and grumbles, then looks at Sam, he shrugs and looks back at Alex.

"Sounds like we don't have much of a choice. Let's go find a motel and make a plan."

"No," Alex says shaking her head."We've gotta ditch the truck and the car. The demons have got us staked out, they probably already know we're here."

Dean curses and pulls the heavy steel door down on Bobby's garage, the Impala and the truck parked side-by-side slowly disappear from sight. He stomps back to the ugliest looking truck ever made, the old '70's Ford coughs and spits up the occasional cloud of smoke, the door creaks and jams and Dean yanks it hard, swearing under his breath.

"This stupid thing is gonna blow up before we get out of the driveway."

Alex snickers and wiggles closer to the passenger door to give Sam's huge frame more space, and pats the dash of the truck.

"Ignore him honey, he's just a cranky pants. You're a great truck."

"Oh god." Sam grumbles under his breath, "There's two of them. You both talk to vehicles."

The truck rumbles and grumbles its way down the road, Bobby's house fades in the distance, Alex swallows hard when it finally disappears when they go around the corner. They've managed to make it almost all the way to the local motel when a cruiser pulls out of a side road and flips on its lights. Dean swears and smacks the steering wheel, then pulls over to the curb, he digs out his wallet and pulls out several driver's licences and grabs one for South Dakota.

"I don't know why I'm even bothering," he grumbles, "This stupid thing doesn't even have a registration or insurance card in it."

"Well I guess it's good it's me." a familiar female voice says. Dean turns and sees Sheriff Mills standing beside the truck; she looks it over and shakes her head at it, then looks at him.

"You couldn't possibly have found a crappier looking truck, could you?" she asks, pulling out her ticket book. She doesn't wait for an answer, just starts writing out a ticket.

"Oh come on!" Dean bitches, watching her write. She glances up at him and gives him a look then looks back down and finishes, she yanks off the ticket and hands it to him, then snaps her book shut.

"It's a warning, good for fourteen days. If anybody else here pulls you over, show them this and they can't give you a ticket or tow you. I'm guessing it won't take you fourteen days to find him."

Dean takes the ticket and carefully folds it up and puts it in his wallet, he looks a little embarrassed and smiles at her.

"No, it won't, we've got a lead already. Warehouse outside of town. We know they are tracking the Impala and the truck so we had to stash them at Bobby's. If you could keep your guys out of the garage..."

"Done, so far the Feds haven't got wind of anything yet. If those boys move in we might have to move them. I'll let you know. Somebody gimme a cell number."

Sheriff Mills says, pulling out a notebook and a pen, she eyes the three of them when nobody volunteers and number. Alex sighs and leans forward a bit to see pas Dean's shoulders.

"It's a Canadian number, 604-471-7069. Don't rank up my daytime minutes.""

Alex smiles, Sheriff Mills smiles and scribbles it onto her notebook. She snaps it shut and looks at the three of them.

"There are only three warehouses on the outside of town, one of them is in use, and the other two are abandon. Kripke's Metal Recycling and Englund's Storage are the two you should look at, be careful they haven't been used for years."

She steps back from the truck and gives them a wave ahead, Dean watches her walk back to her cruiser and then puts the truck in gear. The lights stop and the headlights fade into the distance, as they made their way down the old road.

It was a quick stop into the motel to drop off the majority of their stuff, then they were back on the road again eating burgers and fries on the way to the first of the two warehouses. Kripke's place was a dead zone, no tire tracks not footprints, the heavy fencing and gates were rusted solidly in place. The only way anyone could have got in was flying through the roof and as far as they knew demons hadn't learned to fly, yet. They approached the second warehouse even more stealthy than normal, parking the truck almost a quarter mile away and walking in. They had found a small rise that gave them a good view of the warehouse and had crawled as close as they could, now they were belly down on the semi-frozen ground, watching. It was apparent that something was going on, fresh tire tracks, a half a dozen men lingering around outside the building and rock and roll music blasting from a few smashed windows meant they had either found the demons place or had stumbled across a rave. Dean figured by the lack of alcohol and semi-dressed females it was the demon's place.

"I don't see any damned wards. She was shitting us." He grumbles, looking through the binoculars.

"I do not shit people, Dean Winchester." Her voice snaps through the dark. "You cannot see them because they were not meant for you." She sneers.

"Well then if we can't see them and, your banned from entering, what good are you?" he sneers back.

Kali glares at him, then steps over closer and kneels down with them in the grass, she reaches out her hand and grabs Alex's forearm. Alex jumps and then jerks and gasps when her vision changes. The lights appear brighter, the trees glow, birds can be seen glowing in the darkness, the building appears dark but several elaborate symbols glow green on the walls. The demons appear a bright red color, almost an eye-searing white in places. She gasps and blinks at the intensity of it all. Kali finally removes her hand and her vision goes back to normal, Alex rubs her forehead against the ache settling in from the intensity of it all.

"Shit, next time give me a little warning. Why are the demons so bright? Shouldn't they be dark?" she asks Kali.

"The demons are bright because they're body temperatures are higher. The effect of a demon in a human body produces heat. What do you call it? A fever." Kali explains, "Did you see the wards? They were symbols in green."

Alex nods, thinking, then roots around in her backpack for a second, she pulls out a large case and flips it opened. Inside is an elaborate foam lined case with a large pair of binoculars inside. She carefully takes them out and adjusts several buttons, they whine to life and several red glowing buttons light up on the top panel. She presses them to her eyes and makes several adjustments.

"Son-of-a-bitch." She breathes, scanning the area."All this time...you've got to be shitting me."

Dean shifts beside her and she hands over the binoculars.

"Don't touch any buttons, and be careful they cost me a fortune." Alex says. She watches as he puts them up to his eyes, he immediately swears under his breath.

"What the hell? Infrared? These things are glowing like crazy but how do we tell them from humans?"

"Humans show up as yellow not red." Alex says. Dean hands the binoculars to Sam who takes a look and then low whistles as he scans the area. He hands then back to Alex who takes them and makes a few adjustments; she places them back up to her eyes and scans the building, then stops.

"I see Bobby." She breathes. "Oh god."

Bobby jerks and winces when a pretty blond female grabs him by the hair and yanks his head back, her eyes flip to black and she snarls down at him in the chair.

"Tell me where Alex is or I'm going to let my buddy here start beating on you." She gestures to a huge guy standing in front of her, he taps a pipe against his leg and smiles an evil grin, his eyes flip to black and he jerks his head at the blond.

"Just let me get a little payback in." He smirks, she releases Bobby's hair and then smacks him in the back of the head. Bobby glares at her then pulls on the ropes again, testing the knots.

"Alex is probably right outside, planning on kicking your asses again. How many did you lose on your stupid roadblocks this time? Your employee turnover rate is astonishing, bitch."

The blond sets her jaw and then jerks her chin at the guy, he smirks and then hoists the pipe up like a baseball bat.

"This is really gonna hurt." He laughs, he swings and smashes the pipe across Bobby's shin, there is a loud snapping cracking noise, Bobby gasps and buckles over then screams in pain as his tibia snaps. The blond grabs him by the hair and yanks his head back, Bobby gasps for breath and grits his teeth.

"Where is she?"

Bobby gasps and shakes his head as much as he can with her tight grip on his hair.

"I don't know, if she got through the road block then she should be at the house. She doesn't know anybody else here but me and the boys. Try the motels."

She lets his hair go and waves off the big guy, she walks around Bobby and looks at the blood stain spreading across his pant leg.

"We've tried the motels, she completely disappeared. You better come up with something else, old man. You've got an awful lot of bones to break."

"My cell is the only way to get in contact with her. She's got call display, she'll only answer certain numbers."

The blond stomps over to a heavy plaid jacket tossed on a pile of boxes and rifles through the pockets, she pulls out a cell phone and flips it on. She quickly flips through a list of numbers and stops at 'Alex', then hits the call button.

Alex jumps when the cell phone buzzes in her pocket , she shoves the binoculars into Dean's hands and yanks it out, it shows up as Bobby's number. She flashes the display to Dean then answers it.

"Listen up honey," the blond starts, "We've got your replacement daddy here and were going to slowly take him apart unless you agree to trade."

"Listen you bitch. You so much as tap him with that pipe again and I'll tear your head off with my bare hands." Alex snarls back.

The blond hesitates and glances around the room, then makes a frantic gesture with her hands to the big demon.

"How do you know about the pipe?" she asks, still glancing around nervously. The big guy glances around too, then drops it and beats a hasty retreat out of the room. Dean bumps Alex in the shoulder then grabs the bags and stands up. They have got to get out of there before someone catches them.

"You know what I did to your little vamp friend..."

"He wasn't my friend..."

"I'm gonna do the same thing to you if I find out you've put one more bruise on him."

Dean grabs Alex's arm and drags her down the hill towards the truck, he tosses the bags in the truck and jumps in. Sam climbs in beside her and they wait, if Dean starts the truck now they could get an idea of what the engine sounds like and track them that way.

"We want you, not Bobby. Even trade, tomorrow morning. First light."

"Deal." Alex sneers into the phone, she snaps it shut and Dean cranks the engine over, the truck roars to life, he yanks it around and pulls a U-turn then steps on the gas and roars out onto the dirt road and back to town.


End file.
